


The Only Easy Day was Yesterday

by Ambitious_Rubbish



Series: Kinktober 2020 [6]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3
Genre: F/F, Kinktober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:55:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26886976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ambitious_Rubbish/pseuds/Ambitious_Rubbish
Summary: An operation gone slightly awry results in a few bumps and bruises among the Lyons’ Pride. Ever the model soldier, Sarah takes it all in stride, but the whole ordeal leaves one of her squadmates just a little shaken.Pep talks ensue.
Relationships: Female Lone Wanderer/Sarah Lyons
Series: Kinktober 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949869
Kudos: 5





	The Only Easy Day was Yesterday

**Author's Note:**

> A day late (well, maybe a bit more than that) and a dollar short, but...
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/23466580
> 
> Written for Day 6: "Mirrors"
> 
> (1/26/21): Minor edits for grammar/spelling

“The only easy day was yesterday,” or so the saying went. It was one of those weird military adages that Abby never really fully understood.

Until now.

It should have been a simple operation. The proverbial milk run – only with water instead of the milk. And the only reason why the Lyons’ Pride – the Brotherhood of Steel’s most prestigious unit – had been assigned to such a simple, mundane task was to “get them out of the house,” so to speak.

Things had been quiet these past few weeks. One might even say “too quiet,” but that wasn’t the sort of thing a sane person actually said to hardened soldiers. It was the kind of statement that just invited catastrophe, and soldiers – especially the elite, battle-hardened kind – tended to be just a mite superstitious.

With good reason, as it turned out.

There had been no super mutant sightings in that area in days. No talk of raiders. No mention of feral ghouls. It really had been “too quiet.” So, of course, when a dozen super mutants had boiled out of nowhere to attack the water convoy the Pride was escorting, there was swearing, flying lead, and death.

But at least no one was surprised.

All things considered, the convoy and its escorts had gotten off lightly. One of the pack Brahmin had been carried off. No one expected to ever see it again, of course. Other than that, there was a whole host of bumps, bruises and scratches amongst the human elements of the convoy, but no one – other than a handful of the muties – had actually died.

It was, as these things went, a certifiable win.

But that didn’t necessarily make Abigail Brennan feel any better.

An hour or so after their return to the Citadel, she was in Sarah’s quarters, in the bathroom, looking herself over in the mirror, and she didn’t exactly like what she was seeing.

An ugly, purplish splotch started at maybe halfway up her torso on her right side, and stopped just before the waistline of her shorts. And she now had a bandage on her left forearm covering up a deep and wicked looking gash. Her face hadn’t been spared, either. The area around her left eye was an ugly mess. There was no permanent damage, and a stimpak applied early on had prevented most of the swelling, but she wouldn’t be winning any beauty contests for quite a while until the bruising healed.

She sighed. The team was never going to let her hear the end of it. And neither was Sarah.

There was a rustle at the main door. That would likely be Sarah Lyons herself, returning from a debriefing she had not at all been looking forward to. And who could blame her? Sarah was not the type to shy away from the complete truth when it came to her mission reports, and so she would have had to tell the Elder – her father, no less – that her unit had come under attack, that the convoy under her protection had suffered losses, and that the newest member of her unit – who just also so happened to be someone she was sleeping with – had made a complete and utter ass of herself.

“Hey.” Sarah was one second through the door, and already her uniform shirt was half-off.

“Hi. How’d it go?”

“It… went.” She was down to just her underwear and socks as she padded into the bathroom.

“That good?”

A shrug. “Here, lemme help you with that.” The blonde’s mouth was set in a grim line as she began gingerly removing the dressing on Abby’s arm. They’d done a quick (if somewhat dirty) job of patching it up in the field. Sewing up the wound, slapping some artificial skin on it to keep it clean, and then applying a bandage. It had done the job: allowed her to keep fighting, stopped any further blood loss. But now it was time to change that dressing before it got completely soaked through.

“Will I get to keep my arm?” Abby joked. But there wasn’t much cheer to her words, no real humor to it. It was just the sort of thing – well, it was the sort of thing people expected her to say. Sarcasm was always easier and came more readily to hand than genuine feelings.

For her part, Sarah played along. It was, after all, what they knew best. “Think so. You might get a small scar out of it, though.”

“Oh, boy. Can’t wait. It’ll make me look tough.”

“Mmmm hmmm.”

Well. That joke had gone over like a lead balloon. But that wasn’t what bothered her. No, it was the look on Sarah’s face. Tired. Probably disappointed, too. She’d seen that look a million times before. Like on Amata’s face every time she picked a fight with Butch and his goons that she couldn’t win. Or on her father’s face after she got her ass kicked in one of those fights. How he’d sighed and frowned, and begged her to stop being so brash and so impulsive, even as he’d patched her up. It was a look of total disappointment, and of embarrassment. She’d embarrassed her best friend in front of the other kids, embarrassed her father in front of his colleagues. And she’d done it again and again and again.

And now she was doing it to Sarah, as well. That was what stung the most: the idea that someone she respected, someone she cared about so much, was disappointed in her. That she had once again failed to live up to expectations.

“So, I guess I’m out, huh?” She was so afraid of what the answer would be, even though she knew what the answer would be, that it was hard to voice the question.

“Out of what?”

“Um… the squad.”

Sarah looked up from her work and blinked owlishly. “What? Why?”

“Isn’t that what you were going to tell me? That… that I screwed up royally today, that I could have gotten myself killed, or worse, someone else? That your Dad was right about how you and me being together in the same squad was a terrible idea-”

“Whoa whoa whoa. Hold on just a second. Where is all of this coming from?”

“I… I don’t know. You’re just… you’re looking at me like you’re trying to find a way to break some bad news. It’s ok. You can just say it. You don’t have to spare my feelings-”

“You… you need to stop talking right now.” Sarah was quick on her feet, but there was a lot to process right there, and… and she needed a minute.

“Sorry.”

“I was going to say that you scared the hell out of me out there today.”

“I know, I’m s-”

“Specialist Brennan. Shut up. That’s an order.” Sarah was dragging out her “commander’s voice.” That deadpan, no-nonsense tone she used when things were _really_ serious.

Abby shut up.

“Thank you. Now if you’ll allow me to finish, I would like to say that yes, you scared the shit out of me out there today. But if you hadn’t done what you did, Dusk might be lunchmeat right now. And since she will never thank you for saving her useless hide, I will do it on her behalf.”

Abby opened her mouth and immediately shut it again when she saw the savage glare being aimed in her direction.

“As for all the rest of… that...” She sighed. “You’re right. You and me, out there together in the field… it’s a risk. But I’m willing to take that risk. I’ve gotten used to having you around. Having you watch my back. And while I make my own tactical decisions, I’ve never been good with the other part of the job. Making nice with the civvies. I trust your input on that stuff. I value it, and I don’t think you get just how much.”

Abby meekly raised her hand.

“Yes. Yes, you can talk. What is it?”

“I guess… I guess I just don’t understand how you’re not mad.”

“I am mad.”

“… um...”

“But not for the reasons you think.” Sarah came up behind her and very carefully wrapped her arms around the redhead’s waist. “If there is anything about your behavior that frustrates me… that just leaves me so damn mad? It’s knowing that you will always, always, _always_ throw yourself into the middle of a dangerous situation if you catch even the slightest whiff of trouble and think someone needs your help. You’ll do it with no regard for your own safety, and that means...” There was the tiniest catch in her voice just then. “And that means I could lose you. And there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it. Because I’m not going to order you to play it safe. You wouldn’t listen to me even if I tried, but more than that… you choose to risk yourself out there. That’s not a decision I get to take away from you. Because if I did, I’d be taking who you _are_ away from you.”

Abby blinked in surprise. “I… I didn’t know you-”

“No, of course you didn’t. Because you’ve convinced yourself that you’re a loser. That us being together is only through some crazy twist of luck. And so you keep expecting the other shoe to drop. For you to mess up somewhere and in such a way that you’ll ruin what we have and be able to tell yourself that you were right all along.”

She tried to protest. Opened her mouth to deny it all, but deep down… deep down, even she realized it was probably true.

“I’m not going to let that happen. And if you need a little reminder every now and again, or if you need a little kick in the ass every now and again, I’ll be there to give it to you. I’m not going to let you sabotage this.”

There were a few very lengthy moments of silence before Abby finally managed to muster up the nerve to speak. And even then, she didn’t really know what to say. “I… I, uh… that is-”

Sarah favored her with a faint smile. “How about you just don’t say anything? For once in your life.”

“Sure.”

The truth was, she really didn’t know how to respond to that. She’d been expecting… well… something other than what she’d gotten, certainly. Sarah was not really the type to yell. At least not when they weren’t in combat. She was the kind of woman who just had so much charisma and strength of will that she didn’t need to yell. But that only made these kinds of talks so much more intimidating. The way she would calmly and almost politely explain just what you’d done wrong – or, in this case, how you’d done things right – it just seemed so… surreal. She raised her eyes to the mirror. And even though she still thought she was an absolute mess, it suddenly didn’t seem so bad anymore. Not with Sarah’s arms around her waist. Not with her chin resting on her shoulder. And not with that look on her face that seemed serene, but… also a bit sad.

But she knew better than to pry. The smart play was to take Sarah at her word, no matter how unexpected it was. And to change the subject. Immediately. “Think I could grace the cover of an issue of Grognak the Barbarian looking like this?”

"Oh yeah. The Grognak cover artists loved skimpily dressed redheads."

“Awesome.”

It was an awkward, hamfisted deflection, but Sarah went with it, anyway. It killed her whenever Abby got in the habit of beating herself up the way she had been. And if she was willing to change the subject to get away from that kind of conversation, that was just fine with her. She hugged Abby as tightly as she could, taking care to avoid her bruised ribs, and it was clear the gesture was appreciated as the redhead sighed softly and settled deeper into the embrace.

“So, you know what happens when the dashing hero and his beautiful lady love get back to their cave, right? After their incredible victory over the forces of evil and all?”

Sarah laughed. “Yeah. I have some idea. But I hope you’re not trying to suggest I have much in common with that hairy brute.”

“Other than the shared aptitude at asskicking, no. Grognak is way prettier.”

Another laugh. This one warmer and heartier. “He sure is, but I’m here and he isn’t, so I guess you’ll just have to settle for me.”

Abby let out a melodramatic sigh. “Oh, fine. I guess I can make do.” She turned in Sarah’s embrace just enough that she could reach the other woman’s lips. They kissed. Long and slow and gentle. “So, I have a crazy idea.”

“Let me guess: does it involve taking the rest of these clothes off of you?”

“You know, it just might.”

“Then should we move this to the bed?”

“We could. But...” Abby blushed. “I kind of want to watch you do stuff to me. In the mirror.”

For a brief moment, Sarah’s eyes went wide, but then they narrowed, and a wicked, saucy little grin sprang up onto her face. “Do you? Huh. Now that you mention it, that _does_ sound fun.”

“Glad you agree. So what are we waiting for?” The mischievous smirk on her face mirrored Sarah’s own. “Time’s ‘a wastin’.”


End file.
